Budget Van Lines

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Budget should be shut down...

Posted by kylove4u on 08/20/2010

TULSA, OKLAHOMA -- My fiance and I rented a truck from Budget to move from KY to NY. On the first day, when we were loading the truck, it was raining and we soon discovered that the roof of the truck was leaking and our belongings were getting soaked with the rainwater. We called for Budget roadside assistance to fix the leak but they refused to come out and do so. So, we bought a caulk gun and some caulk and had to climb onto the top of the truck to fix it ourselves. We thought this would be the worst of our problems. As we set out the next day from KY to NY, we made it as far as the Cleveland, OH area (about 5 hours away from our starting point) when the Budget truck broke down. It turns out the transmission was blown and the forward gears were out as well, and the truck would only go in reverse. We waited 2 hours for Budget roadside assistance to show up. The guy actually said "I think it's alright...try to drive it again" so, we did with him there...and again truck would only go in reverse. The truck had to be towed to a service station in Chardon, OH. We waited 4 hours for the truck to be towed. It was towed to this place in the middle of nowhere with very poor lighting. (it was dark outside at this point). Budget hired a moving company to move our belongings from the defective truck onto a new one. This company was called "Moving Staffers"...from Ohio (don't use them either). They loaded 2/3 of our stuff onto the truck in a haphazard unprofessional manner. 1/3 of our stuff wouldn't fit back onto the truck (even though it had all come from the defective truck, and the trucks were apparently the same size). The moving company basically said "sorry, we can't make it fit. Talk to Budget" and they left. We were on the phon with Budget roadside assistance until 4am trying to settle this. They were like "well, you might have to rent a trailer to hook to your personal vehicle for the rest of the belongings" We didn't have a trailer hitch on our car. They wouldn't let us hitch a trailer (at first) to their truck, mostly because Budget doesn't have them and we'd have to rent from U-haul. We finally got permission to hook a U-haul trailer to the Budget truck. We thought all was well, but later on our journey, the truck just ran out of gas. It turns out the gas gauge was faulty. Budget charged $200 to bring us gas just to get to the next gas station. When we finally made it to New York to unload the truck, it was a nightmare. We opened the back of the truck to see the way the truck had been loaded. there were couches on top of TV's, iron chairs on top of wooden tables, and none of the furniture pads had been used (there were 13); and all 13 had been on the sensitive furniture prior to the load swap. Several items were broken. Legs were broken off of a dresser and just thrown into one of the drawers. An antique rocking chair/family heirloom was completely destroyed, couches were snagged and stuffing is coming out, desks were bowed and huge divots taken out of the wood, etc. A total of 13 large items were damaged. We filed an insurance claim with Budget because we bought the best insurance plan that you could (covering up to 1 million in damages). We requested $3,000 to repair/replace the damaged items. Budget Insurance people refuse to pay for anything except "a dresser and a big screen TV" because that's all Moving Staffers reported as damaged. First of all, we didn't even have a big screen TV damaged...wasn't even on the list of 13 things (and I think we would have noticed if the TV was damaged). Second, there was no way Moving Staffers would have even known about the other items damaged because it was the way they packed them that did the damage...they might have broken the dresser on the spot but the rest of the damages happened as a result of poor packing. And oh yeah, Budget said they won't even pay for a dresser (or anything else) unless we can produce receipts showing we purchased these items. Who has receipts for family heirlooms and antiques through the generations? And who really can show a receipt for a dresser purchased 10 years ago???? I don't even have receipts for things I bought last week!!! These people are ridiculous. Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention: We found feces on the truck...amidst all of our belongings...we sure as hell didn't pack poop with our stuff!!

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Rude and Apathetic Customer "Service"

Posted by Volovoce on 08/05/2010

I chose to use Budget Truck rental for my move from Richmond, VA to Winston-Salem, NC. I made the original reservation a month in advance. I ensure that I received my truck properly, I called in advance to confirm the reservation and was told that all was well. Budget then called me shortly before my pick-up date to let me know that everything was still on track.
On Monday 7/26/2010, I showed up at the Willow Lawn Budget Truck at 8am for my scheduled pick-up. After waiting twenty minutes for the gentleman to show up, I was told they didn’t have my truck. I reminded him that I had called to confirm, and that they had called me to re-confirm. He rudely replied “Well, I don’t know about any of that, but if I don’t have a truck, I don’t have a truck.” I asked him if there was another size truck available, and he said no. He turned, appearing to leave the office, so I told him that he needed to help find a truck for me to fulfill the reservation. After a long wait (that included computer crashes and no-answers at other stores), he found another truck in town—a truck without air conditioning (on a 95 degree day!).
The only other option was to drive 30 miles out of our way to pick up a different truck, so out of desperation (we were on a tight schedule due to the out-of-state move), we chose the non-air conditioned truck. The truck felt unsteady to drive, was very old and loud, and generally felt unsafe. The treads on the tires were also worn terribly.
After completing a long (not to mention excessively hot) drive, we arrived and moved into the new apartment. The original drop-off location was 550 Peters Creek Parkway. I was not informed of any changes to that location. We took the truck there, having filled up the gas tank just down the street. Upon arrival, we were informed that that location no longer accepted Budget Trucks, and had not accepted them since a change in management a few months prior. The website only recently (within the last week or two) took down that location, and a Google search still points customers to that location.
We had to drive fifteen miles out of our way to return the truck at the Reynolda Road location. When we arrived, we were told that the gas tank wasn’t completely full, and if we didn’t take it to fill it up, we would be charged $30. When we “filled” it up, it needed only a gallon and a half of gas.
Every person we spoke to at the Budget locations was rude and apathetic. We were told that any compensation or refunds had to be handled by the corporate office.
I called the corporate office’s customer service line to request compensation for the missing equipment, time delay, and lack of air conditioning on a hot summer’s day. The recorded message on the customer service line states that “This line is currently busy. To try this line again, press 3; to disconnect, press star.” This means that you have to push 3 every 5 seconds (I timed it) to try to connect to a living person. After 31 minutes of pushing 3 every 5 seconds, I gave up and tried the reservation line instead.
I was finally connected with a human being, who seemed uninterested in listening to me and tried interrupting me often. She explained that they only guarantee rates, not the equipment, so they are not liable for missing equipment (in other words, they can bite their thumbs at their customers who are left stranded). In recompense for the delay and inconvenience of no A/C, she offered me a 10% discount off the base rate ($162). I asked to speak to a manager to discuss further compensation, but she refused, saying “you don’t understand, it’s our policy—we won’t give compensation for that.” I told her I understand policy, but I wanted to explore other options because of the extreme nature of our Budget experience. I wasn’t given a chance to talk to a manager, so I accepted the 10% discount (a mere $16).
She also offered me a letter of apology and a coupon for my next rental, but I told her I will NEVER rent from Budget again.
Stay away from Budget Truck rentals. I spoke with other Budget customers who have had similar experiences. They are cheap because they cheat their customers and skimp on customer service. Go with U-Haul instead; they may be pricey, and are not be perfect, but I’ve had much better experiences with them.

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Very bad customer service

Posted by cross country move victim on 02/03/2010

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- This company represented they and their employees would move us with no problems, this quite simply was a lie. They stated just their employees would move us. A moving company who was subcontracted showed up and made it very clear they were not in any way shape or form owned and operated by Budjet. This company was Alpha Van Lines out of New York also, and was very bad, (another review on their site.) This company agreed to the move after the Budjet representative advised us on two other occasions other companies were available for the move. Budjet advised other companies couldn't meet the very important closing date of our house sale. Alpha showed up the day before closing and advised they would not be able to move us out in one day, it took several beyond the closing date as they arrived with only two guys, and not several as Budjet stated would happen, and they were not Budjet employees. The Budjet representative and I spent several hours on the phone measuring (me) and advising sizes weights etc of all our household items. This was to "save money (500.00)" other companies would charge to send someone out to estimate. This was a very poor decision on my part, but seemed to make sense at the time. the weight according to Alpha was off by over 2 tons! Alpha did not re-weigh the load as stated they would, but still hold you up for the over amount before they will release your property. Anyway, This moved cost several thousand dollars more than estimated by Budjet say nothing about lost, stolen, damaged goods and house cleaning costs. All of which Budjet will accept no responsibility, say nothing about not even responding to my or BBB inquiries.

The Budjet representative also stated he definitely would be available the day of our move if there were any problems (even pretended to check his schedule), but was not as problems did arise obviously. He was not available at any time that day or since the move, and refuses to answer calls or emails. Another representative stated she was the boss and would deal with Alpha for me stating she "had them by the balls" due to the business climate, but she never did anything or return calls.

This seems to be a requirement of Budjet of their employees. All in all I would not recommend Budjet for anything to anyone.

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Awful Experience

Posted by kiki598 on 11/09/2010

This company lies and lies and lies and has no remorse for the families that they screw over. We were given a pickup day of Oct.27th. A week before that date, they said "due to scheduling problems" that our date had been postponed until Nov. 4th. We have patience...so we said, "okay". On Nov. 4th, we called dispatch and they informed us that because of other families not being prepared...they could not even start to load our possessions until the next evening. Then, the next evening they said, "How about we do it all tomorrow morning, we have a few guys (one of which they said they pay in cash...why they told us this is beyond me and sheer stupidity.) So Saturday rolls around and nobody shows up. We were told that something happened to the truck, a part blew in the motor. Then this week, we were not given a phone call. We left a message stating that we demand to know when they will show up if EVER! We get an email stating they estimate they will be here between November 17th-20th. And who knows when they would actually drop off our belongings, halfway across the country. Do you know what the rude woman (named Theresa by the way) said to me? "The email reservation was the only one you made. There is no record of anything before that!" WHAT?! So we were hallucinating the calls (on my phone records, by the way) and constant excuses? I lost almost a month, if I'm lucky, when this is all said and done. They are only brokers and they can't even do that job correctly? And by the way...if anyone at Budget Van Lines is reading this (don't deny it's your company...cause it is. Your phone number is 18006116001) do not ever make your customers feel stupid or mistreat them...I have read far too much about you and you cannot tell me "Oh. that's another company that uses our name." Please. Thank you for hurting my husband's ability to make income at his new job and thank you for making it impossible for me to move my three disabled children without incident, worry or stress. This is ALL fact so do us all a favor and stop lying....your reputation on the internet speaks for itself.

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Worst Movers Ever

Posted by JessGP on 06/29/2010

Budget Van Lines is the worst moving company I've ever encountered in my life! I hired Budget Van Lines to move me from Tampa to Ft. Knox, Ky. I've moved very often in my life and have never encountered the issues I've had with this company. I was moving a one bed apartment and was originally quoted on $1200 and then told it would be. 29 a lb for anything added. I added about five more boxes. I had everything packed and sealed and then proceeded to wait for 2 days for these movers to arrive. I called and called and called this company and their subcontractor several times. First they said, "Friday between 4 and 6" then "between 7&8" and so on and so on. When they finally arrived they proceeded to tell me that we would have to pay $3000!!! Then I freaked out on them, and they said $2100. They movers arrived with an empty, unweighed truck and said we'd have to wait a few hours for them to get the truck weighed or be charged by the square foot. Since my husband had to report to base in less than 18 hours and I was supposed to be out of my apt a day earlier, waiting a few hours wasn't an option. They quoted us so much and said our furniture would be delivered only a couple days later. We received our stuff over a week later is poor condition. Plus, they managed to squeeze all of my furniture into a space smaller than a parking space. Everything was shoved on top of everything mixed with other peoples stuff. I've called and left dozens of messages with Budget Van Lines and their subcontractor. NO ONE contacted me during this hell-ish move process to inform me when anything was being picked up or delivered. Nor have I been contacted regarding my damaged furniture. My husband and I will be moving every 6 to 12 months for the next 6 years and will NEVER use this company again. They lost thousands in future moving costs. I will make sure non of our military friends use this company either. My advice: if you're looking for a good, inexpensive moving company, not to use Budget Van Lines. You will be screwed and you're better off spending more and being able to depend on your movers.

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RUN FROM THIS COMPANY-they are completely dishonest

Posted by sek on 01/05/2011

I was told they can move my piano and other important items and was given a quote. I was told that the movers would be piano movers and as they arrived they did not know how to move my piano, they also filled the dumpster outside my home full of trash from their own truck. When I fired them as they did not know what they were doing and were stepping way out of line by filling the dumpster without asking me. Budget, who knew the situation charged me anyway and refused to pay me back, even though I never saw a contract, it was never faxed and all the other reasons I've already mentioned. It is a shame that people choose to run a company with these type of tactics. SHAME ON THEM!

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Do Not Rent From Budget!!!

Posted by jahseekah on 08/03/2010

Do not reserve a truck from Budget! There is no guarantee that the truck will actually be available. I was given less than 20 hours notice that Budget was unable to honor my reservation. I had to locate a truck at the last minute on top of all of the other stressors that come with moving. Thankfully Uhaul was able to find a truck for me at the last minute. Budget should run their business honorably and only take the reservations that they can actually fill.

Seems like common sense and common decency, but it is beyond the capabilities of the terrible people at Budget. Do not use this company for your move!

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Horrible experience with Budget Truck Rental

Posted by caitb313 on 08/02/2010

we went to pick up a one way rental in nashville tn however there were no trucks at the location!!! since then I've read that a lot of other people have had this problem. if only I had known before. apparently they only guarantee the price and not that they will actually have a truck available. what kind of stupidity is that! I had made the reservation online and tried to call the location twice to confirm (one time no one answered, the other time the guy said oh it should be here, my computer is down so I can't check but if everything was OK online then you're fine)
both myself and another customer were there to pick up trucks and had reservations but there were NO trucks. we specifically made reservations at the location because we didn't have transportation to another location. the budget representative seemed totally inept and had no options for us except to go to another location, but he didn't even offer to bring the truck to our current location. also the other location didn't have the size we had reserved, only larger and we specifically wanted a small truck for ease of driving and better gas mileage. he said we could try to call customer service the next day to get a discount but when I called the phone reps said they couldn't do anything and were very curt and unfriendly. luckily the other customer gave me a ride to the other location. but both of us were extremely upset. it took over two hours for us to get our trucks. I was disgusted at the ineptness and disorganization of the budget rental company.

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Do Not Use Budget

Posted by Donotusebudget on 07/04/2010

PANAMA CITY BEACH, FLORIDA -- I would NOT recommend Budget. Although they may be cheaper, their service is awful. I had reserved a truck online, and I even got a confirmation of the truck rental. AN HOUR before I needed to pick-up the truck, a representative calls and informs me that they do not have a truck available. I had arranged movers for loading and unloading, etc for an out of town move. Then they tell me they don't have anything in the county, and the closest truck they have is 1.5 to 2 hours away. And there is nothing they can do about it. Give me a break; don't inform me 1 HOUR before I need the truck that you don't have anything. PLEASE do not use Budget, unless you want a company that doesn't guarantee you a truck for your move.

Moving is stressful enough; don't let an irresponsible and inconsiderate company make it worse.